[Scipy-organizers] accessibility contact information

Fri Nov 22 12:45:25 EST 2013

Yeah, Andy, you said "this list" so I thought you were referring to this
list, which is to say, scipy-organizers. I agree that scipy-exec is a good
place for it.

On Fri, Nov 22, 2013 at 9:42 AM, Kyle Mandli <kyle.mandli at gmail.com> wrote:

> I may be misinformed to exactly what this type of information might
> entail but I would imagine that the conference venue would have a lot
> of this type of information already available or at least suggestions
> for hearing or vision impaired and talks.  This might head off a lot
> of questions about accessibility at the conference and reduce the
> overhead of having an email address.
>
> Kyle
>
> On Fri, Nov 22, 2013 at 11:32 AM, Katy Huff <katyhuff at gmail.com> wrote:
> > I agree that this is a good idea. I think this sort of thing is why we
> have
> > a communications chair. Anthony, is there an email address that isn't
> > totally public (as this scipy-organizers list is), that would be better
> for
> > these more sensitive concerns than this public list is?
> >
> > It seems to me we should route all questions (not just about
> accessibility,
> > but also other attendee concerns), to our chairs, communications chair,
> and
> > proxies via such an email address. Last year those people just made their
> > personal email addresses public, I think. Anthony, as communications,
> what
> > do you think?
> >
> >
> > On Fri, Nov 22, 2013 at 9:28 AM, sheila miguez <sheila at codersquid.com
> >wrote:
> >
> >> I'd be in danger of over-comitting if I sign up to do it, and doing a
> bad
> >> job at helping people who need information on accessibility might be
> worse
> >> than not having a contact page that people could go to for information.
> >>
> >> I only know a limited amount of information due to asking about small
> >> things we do in Chicago. One of my chipy friends put me in touch with
> his
> >> family member when I had questions re chipy locations and small project
> >> nights because for classes or project nights we have limited
> availability
> >> of accessible spaces and I wanted to understand how to epxlain to
> people up
> >> front what type of amenitites we have.
> >>
> >> She said it was okay to quote her, jen.lav at gmail.com
> >>
> >> re soliciting requests--we always just have a name, contact info, (email
> >> > should be enough, considering the audience) and a time frame.  For
> >> example,
> >> > hard to get an ASL interpreter w/less than a week's notice, other
> >> > accommodations take even more time..  so you want to have a cut off
> date.
> >> >  We just say, "requests for reasonable accommodations should be made
> to X
> >> > by Y date"
> >> >
> >> > re space--my basic thought it that it needs to be physically
> accessible
> >> > (including bathrooms!) and most things beyond that the onus is on the
> >> > participant w/the disability to request, because you can't foresee
> every
> >> > kind of accommodation.
> >> >
> >> > But easy things to do ahead of time:
> >> > -, ask people not to wear perfume, scented products, etc.
> >> > -keep in mind needs re Autistic Community--here is a good resource --
> >> > http://www.aucd.org/docs/add/sa_summits/ASAN.pdf
> >> > --are you using AV system for presentations? there are separate
> >> > accessibility stuff that I am not so familiar with for bigger
> >> > presentations, like live captioning, making sure handouts are in
> >> accessible
> >> > formats, etc. But not knowing what you're doing, hard to say.
> >> > --if seating is available/provided, have space for wheelchair users.
> >> >
> >>
> >> My chipy friend's contribution to the conversation
> >>
> >> I also found the IEEE's guidelines with a link to a more extensive
> >> > PDF, which might also be helpful:
> >> >
> >> >
> >>
> http://www.ieee.org/conferences_events/conferences/organizers/holding_accessible_conference.html
> >> >
> >>
> >> And her followup
> >>
> >> Sure--feel free to share, with the caveat that I'm not really a
> >> > "professional."  I do mental health law--haven't dealt with physical
> >> > accessibility much.  But Aaron, I like the IEEE guidelines--good
> reminder
> >> > of some things I forgot.
> >> >
> >> > I think the most important thing is a clear contact person ahead of
> time,
> >> > so requests can be made.
> >> > also here is a handy publication from DOJ.
> >> > http://www.ada.gov/business/accessiblemtg.htm
> >> >
> >>
> >> Hopefully this isn't too obsessive of me. I was at a conference once
> where
> >> they didn't help people and some folks even got mistreated. I didn't
> know
> >> how to handle it at the time, so I looked for information in order to be
> >> prepared in case I see anything like that happen again.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> On Fri, Nov 22, 2013 at 11:17 AM, Andy Ray Terrel <
> andy.terrel at gmail.com
> >> >wrote:
> >>
> >> > Hey Sheila,
> >> >
> >> > This looks like a good thing to have, but I unless someone wants to
> >> > take on the role of finding all the information, I'm hesitant to make
> >> > it a priority at this time.  For now we can just have folks email this
> >> > list and deal with things on a case by case basis.
> >> >
> >> > -- Andy
> >> >
> >> > On Thu, Nov 21, 2013 at 7:39 PM, sheila miguez <sheila at codersquid.com
> >
> >> > wrote:
> >> > > Hi all,
> >> > >
> >> > > Could we have a contact address similar to what wiscon has for
> >> > > accessibility information? I like this text from their access page,
> >> > > <http://wiscon.info/access.php>.
> >> > >
> >> > > We always welcome discussion exploring how we can better accommodate
> >> > > our members. [...] Please contact access at wiscon.info for
> accommodation
> >> > > requests, questions or suggestions.
> >> > >
> >> > > If we find volunteers to help field emails, could we have an address
> >> > like this?
> >> > >
> >> > > --
> >> > > sheila at codersquid.com
> >> > > _______________________________________________
> >> > > Scipy-organizers mailing list
> >> > > Scipy-organizers at scipy.org
> >> > > http://mail.scipy.org/mailman/listinfo/scipy-organizers
> >> >
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> sheila at codersquid.com
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Scipy-organizers mailing list
> >> Scipy-organizers at scipy.org
> >> http://mail.scipy.org/mailman/listinfo/scipy-organizers
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > http://katyhuff.github.com
> > _______________________________________________
> > Scipy-organizers mailing list
> > Scipy-organizers at scipy.org
> > http://mail.scipy.org/mailman/listinfo/scipy-organizers
>

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